Explore TV Series

In A Land Of Plenty is a 10-episode British television drama serial produced by Sterling Pictures and Talkback for BBC Two in the United Kingdom. Adapted for television by Kevin Hood and Neil Biswas from the novel by Tim Pears. It was first broadcast in the United Kingdom in 2001 and describes a sprawling family saga taking place from the 1950s to the 1990s in England. Through the lives, deaths, tragedies and loves of the Freeman family, the series charts how Britain was shaped after World War II. It was subsequently broadcast in the USA on BBC America. The show was co-financed between WGBH-TV and the BBC and was produced by Michael Riley and John Chapman. Executive Producers were Peter Fincham and Tessa Ross. The soundtrack was written by composer and musician Jocelyn Pook.

Alain de Botton's psychobabble-free self-help course for the philosophically minded.

Spoons is a British sketch comedy programme produced by Endemol owned production company, Zeppotron for Channel 4 from 30 September 2005. The relationship themed show combined recent trends in sketch shows — dark content, strong language, and recurring catchphrases. It was not commissioned for a second series due to low ratings and poor reviews.

A look at the impact of television on British culture.

Great Battles in History are film documentaries that show historical battlefields presented in an animated environment.

Celebrities Under Pressure is a Saturday night entertainment show which aired in the United Kingdom on ITV. The show follows families allowing a celebrity to live with them for a week as they attempt to learn a new skill from their hosts. The celebrity's progress is followed through a video diary, before they are tested in a live studio situation. If successful, the celebrity will win a string of prizes for the family they stayed with, however, if they fail, the family goes home with nothing. The show relates strongly to an earlier ITV game show The Moment of Truth, which is the same concept, but with one member of the family, not celebrities. The first two series were presented by Melanie Sykes, with Vernon Kay presenting the newer episodes.

Living With The Dead is a British television program about a team of paranormal investigators who investigate ghostly goings on and supernatural occurrences in family homes around Britain. The team aim to resolve the paranormal activity for the family concerned. While mainly focused on ordinary family homes, investigations in celebrity homes such as comedian Freddie Starr's occasionally feature. Each run comprises 8 sixty-minute episodes. Now into its second series, the show airs on the Virgin Media Television satellite channel Living, plus Australian and Canadian channels.

Mary, Queen Of Shops is hosted by Mary Portas. Mary attempts to help smaller fashion retail outlets survive in a tough market against the bigger retail stores.

Dead Famous: Ghostly Encounters is a British paranormal reality television series that originally aired on LivingTV from June 15, 2004 to June 13, 2006. The program searches for the alleged ghosts of famous deceased people. Curious skeptic Gail Porter and clairvoyant Chris Fleming take a road trip through America looking for the haunted locations where legends of stage, screen, and music reside. Described by the channel as "like a sharper, sexier, and funnier Mulder and Scully", the duo visits places where celebrity spirits are claimed roam: their hotel rooms, diners, gardens, film lots, and theaters. Two of the most exciting episodes appeared in the first season, were shot in Hollywood, California and featured world famous American psychic medium Michael J. Kouri who conducted paranormal investigations and two incredibly active seances in the hopes of contacting Marilyn Monroe and Jim Morrison of "The Doors." Both Chris and Gail were astounded with the evidence Michael conjured up and is exactly the reason they sought out this extremely accurate medium and his work with parapsychological entities. Michael was the personal medium of movie legend Mae West and is known throughout Hollywood as "The Medium to visit with their questions. His website is www.icghosts.com.

A profile of the 9mm automatic pistol, a universally popular weapon used by armed police and counter-terrorist forces, and often seen in action films.

Chat show presented by Nick Hancock in which celebrities recall their showbusiness careers with the help of archive clips.

Andrew Marr explores how Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection has taken on a life of its own far beyond the world of science.

Sword of Honour is a two-part adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s semi-autobiographical World War II trilogy, initially aired Channel 4 on 2 January 2001. Guy Crouchback embarks on a heroic quest to regain his honour and manhood; however, his encounters with the absurd reality of life in the British Army — strewn with bureaucratic blunders, military debacles, and indelibly eccentric characters — proves to be more of a challenge than facing the enemy itself.

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen uncovers some of the fundamental rules governing interior design.

Zany, anarchic showcase of live tunes, swearing, skits, and superfluous silliness with sexy Sara in the studio and crazy Colin in the community.

High Stakes is a British sitcom starring Richard Wilson that aired in 2001. It was written by Tony Sarchet. The second series remains unaired.

Speed is a BBC television series about the history of fast vehicles, including aeroplanes, boats and cars. The show is presented by Jeremy Clarkson and consists of six episodes. Each focuses on a different aspect of speed. The series was first shown in the UK on BBC One in 2001, and was subsequently shown to an international audience on BBC World and in Australia on the HOW TO Channel. Jeremy Clarkson's Speed, a video containing an hour of highlights from the series was also released in 2001. The video was released on DVD, as part of The Jeremy Clarkson Collection in 2007.

Monsignor Renard was a four-part ITV television drama set in occupied France during World War II. It starred John Thaw as Monsignor Augustine Renard, a French priest who is drawn into the Resistance movement. The series was later shown in the U.S. as part of Masterpiece Theatre.

A bizarre mix of chat show and performance art, as comedy star Vic Reeves allowed guests a rare opportunity to delve into his mind and examine the contents... Guests were invited to talk about obscure subjects like ‘cutlery’ and in the process analyze Vic’s original art work, study relevant props and artifacts, and spend time with the studio rabbit. Guests included Johnny Vegas, Ricky Gervais and, Bill Oddie.

Beech is Back was a storyline in the long-running police procedural television series, The Bill.

Through make-believe and magic, a little girl named Lilly goes on adventures with her friend, a tiny dragon.

In this reboot of 1974 series, Roobarb and Custard Too follows Green dog named Roobarb and the Pink cat named Custard as they go on a crazy adventures.

TV Heaven, Telly Hell is a comedy television show on Channel 4, presented and produced by Sean Lock. The format is similar to Room 101, with guests discussing their likes and dislikes of items on television. The show also allows the guest to reconstruct any moment in television history in the way they wanted it to happen, in a short sketch shown at the end of the show usually parodying a clip discussed earlier.

A nail-biting gangster drama set in the East End of London, focusing on The Cutlers, a crime family who specialize in extortion and protection racketing.

Breeze Block is a short-lived British TV series written by Ian Pattison which aired on BBC Choice in 2002.

Derren Brown: The Events features the illusionist Derren Brownin a series of four highly-complex one-hour specials, which Brown has described as "some of the most incredible feats to date." Each event has its own theme, but Derren's aim is always the same: to confuse, to confound, and, of course, to control. The show consists of a mixture of pre-recorded location pieces connected by theatre-based segments, with each of the four programs building up to a major stunt performance. The first trailer broadcast included Brown speaking in reverse but walking forwards with events around him happening forwards. Seemingly cryptic messages were also hidden in the advert such as links to a "Manchester United" website. The advert was later played forwards (although now with Brown moving in reverse), and revealed the premise of the shows. Brown explains that he will be revealing the "inner workings" of his tricks and "showing you how to get away with it."

Meet Ricky Gervais is a chat show written and hosted by the comedy writer and performer Ricky Gervais. It was produced by Talkback for Channel 4 in 2000 and ran for one series on Friday nights. The show aired throughout the time Ricky Gervais was also co-writing the first series of the highly successful The Office for BBC2.

Comics Britannia is a three-part documentary series from BBC Four which started on 10 September 2007. It was then repeated on BBC Two starting on 19 July 2008. The series looks at the history of the British comic and is also the centre of a Comics Britannia season.

Documentary series using dramatic reconstructions and testimony from witnesses to reveal the 'behind closed doors' politics of the Second World War.

Rush Hour is a sketch show made by Zeppotron and shown on BBC Three during March and April 2007. The show featured several sketches centred around characters travelling to work, school or otherwise, therefore many of the sketches took place inside a car or bus. Several cult and up and coming comedians and comic actors star in the show, each performing several of the characters. The cast includes Adam Buxton, Sanjeev Kohli, Miranda Hart, Frankie Boyle, David Armand, Marek Larwood, Kerry Godliman, Bruce Mackinnon, Naomi Bentley, Lorna Watson, and Katy Wix. BBC Three didn't recommission the show for a second series due to bad reviews.

Lily Live! is a flamboyant live/scripted comedy show which was made by Carlton Television, which was broadcast for two series on ITV in 2000 and 2001 starring Paul O'Grady as Lily Savage. The show guest-starred the club act Gayle Tuesday and the actress Jayne Tunnicliffe.

Petrolheads is a BBC panel game presented by Neil Morrissey, with team captains Richard Hammond and Chris Barrie. The show pitted motoring wits against each other and included car stunts shot on location. There were two guests each episode. The show was produced by Brian Klein, directed by John L Spencer and executive producers were Marie-Claire Walton and Steve Ayres. The theme music was by British composer Leigh Haggerwood. It was created and scripted by prolific author Norman Giller, with input from Top Gear writer Richard Porter and comedy scriptwriter Ged Parsons. In October 26, 2012, Richard Osman, writing for The Guardian named Petrolheads among four of UK TV's worst ever gameshows.

Individual freedom is the dream of our age. It's what our leaders promise to give us, it defines how we think of ourselves and, repeatedly, we have gone to war to impose freedom around the world. But if you step back and look at what freedom actually means for us today, it's a strange and limited kind of freedom.

In this six-part fly-on-the-wall documentary series, we follow Gordon Ramsay through the most intense year of his life as he copes with his celebrity status and juggles cooking with the ever increasing demands on his time from beyond the kitchen.

Follows historians and archaeologists as they recreate farm life from the age of the Stuarts. They wear the clothes, eat the food and use the tools, skills and technology of the 1620s.

Food Poker is a BBC tea-time television programme which fuses traditional culinary skills with poker. It is presented by Matt Allwright and each episode features four chefs. It was first broadcast on BBC Two in 2007.

An expert visits a struggling country house and tries to turn its fortunes by giving advice and suggestions to the owners. The first four seasons saw Ruth Watson in this role. The fifth season saw Simon Davis take the role.

Mini-series

A single mother is prescribed a controversial anti-depressant called Distral and quickly becomes dependent, but discovers that giving up the drug causes terrible side-effects. Unable to find support for her plight, she mounts a personal crusade against the pharmaceutical company who produce the pills.

Soul music has conquered the world in the last 50 years - growing from the raw, electric rhythms of the black underclass, it is now a billion dollar industry with R&B and hip hop dominating the world's charts. It's been the soundtrack to some of the most extraordinary social, political and cultural shifts. Together with the civil rights movement, it has challenged white hegemony, helped break down segregation and encouraged the fight for racial equality. This new six-part series, made by the BBC team who produced the critically-acclaimed Lost Highway, Walk On By and Dancing In The Street series, charts the evolution of soul music - with a fascinating combination of rare archive footage and over 100 contemporary interviews. The movers and shakers from the world of soul – such as James Brown, Mary J Blige, Beyoncé and Martha Reeves, - plus some often overlooked talent, track the music that shaped our lives.

Pete's PA was a British reality television series that originally aired on Living from 8 October 2007 to 5 December 2007. The show followed musician and Dead or Alive frontman Pete Burns as he hunted for a new personal assistant. He was aided by celebrity PA Donna Coulling and psychologist Dr Rob Yeung. Filmed over ten weeks, the potential PAs were pitted against each other in a series of challenges. The ten episode contest concluded with a former criminal psychologist, Nicky, winning the competition.

International Terrorism Since 1945 is a television documentary series, shown on UKTV History from 5 January 2009. Narrated by Robert Powell, it is shown in half-hour episodes at 5:00 pm and 5:30 pm and depicts a history of some major terrorist groups since World War 2 and their activities.

Five friends, Travis, D, Rez, Ange and J are free to do whatever they want. They're in control. Flying high. No rules. Good times... but you know it, the trouble is life gets in the way and that's deadly.

Four-part series demonstrating different kinds of censorship, such as censorship by the government or of art.

Foul-mouthed kids Richie, Rabbit and Hooks share a flat in the titular London apartment, where they're usually after get-rich schemes and get into a lot of trouble with crack whores, pedophiles, etc.

Fear, Stress & Anger is a British sitcom that aired on BBC Two in 2007. Starring Peter Davison and Pippa Haywood, it was written by Michael Aitkens. There is no studio audience or laugh track.

As a boy, Freddie Musgrave ran contraband on the Tyne, but now, as a successful businessman, he seems to have it all. However, his troubled past comes back to haunt him, threatening his newfound security.

Battlefield Detectives is a forensic documentary television series that aired on the History Channel from 2003 to 2006. The series explores famous battles focusing on the battlefield itself, and tell its story based on recent scientific research. It uses modern science to examine how the battles were won or lost. According to History Television, "This series approaches the perennially interesting topic of famous battles in a fresh and exhilarating way. Focusing on the battlefield itself, each programme takes an important battle telling its story and posing a puzzling central question about the battle that recent scientific research is helping to illuminate - a contemporary journey of discovery and a compelling story from the past."

This series explored the social context of classic and contemporary British sitcoms. It featured clips from the sitcoms and interviews with a variety of celebrities and experts.

Two-part documentary series following United Nations Goodwill Ambassador and ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell as she meets inspirational children during a world tour.

A new Channel 4 series takes archaeology to the edge this summer as a team of experts tackles sites across the country that are beyond the reach of normal investigations. In Extreme Archaeology, an eight-part series starting on 20 June, a team of archaeologists with help from top climbers, cavers and divers investigates amazing and unique archaeological sites throughout the UK. Many archaeological locations are beyond the reach of your average archaeologist. They are found in inaccessible caves, on treacherous cliffs, deep under water, or in locations simply too remote or dangerous for normal investigation. Their remoteness often means that their secrets are unique, but they can also be under threat from erosion or other factors and this adds a rescue element to any investigation. Using some of the most advanced scientific equipment available, and high-tech miniature cameras and communication systems to record the action, Extreme Archaeology's experts are dropped into extreme and inaccessible environments under time and other pressures that test their personal and professional skills to the limit.

Nigel Spivey reveals how the images which surround us today come from the ancient world. It's an epic journey spanning five continents and a hundred thousand years of history.

Nearly Famous is a television drama mini-series about a group of British teenagers at a top London school of the performing arts. It is shown in the UK and Ireland on E4. The show has been compared to other teen drama series such as The OC and Skins. The show debuted on E4 on 8 November 2007 and ended its run on the 13th of December 2007. It is filmed in Kent, England. There are no plans to continue into a second series, but the series has been left open so that a second series could be made on demand. The series ends with Owen leaving school, and his devastated friends, after being kicked out. Although it was virtually ignored, it gained a large fanbase between 13-20-year olds. It had many story lines which related well to this target market, including drinking, drugs, money, sex and virginity.

Adam Hart-Davis brings his own inimitable presenting style to this fascinating guided tour of London's most important structures. Each episode reveals the secret history and the extraordinary feats of engineering behind some of the city's greatest landmarks, and uncovers some lesser known gems.

Movie Lounge was a movie and DVD review television show, presented by newspaper columnist and food critic Giles Coren. It was shown on the British terrestrial channel Five.

Casanova, history's most famous erotic hero, lived the life of an international playboy and adventurer, undertaking secret missions, swindling aristocrats and infuriating authorities wherever he went. Through historical accounts and Casanova's own memoirs and love letters, this fascinating docudrama recreates the exploits of "the World's Greatest Lover," providing new insight into the legacy of a man who was so much more than his reputation would suggest.